Purchasing for tickets to the Harbor 20 Awards and Holiday Dinner is available now online. If you haven’t already received your invitation in the mail, you should in the next day or two.  This year, we’ll be accepting your reservations and ticket purchases online. Click here to purchase now. We are using PayPal, a safe and secure online payment system. This allows us to get head counts early and makes it very quick and easy for you to buy your tickets.

The committee has worked hard to reduce the ticket prices this year to encourage more to come to this annual, fun event. This year, we brought the price down to $35 per person, which includes:

• Prime Rib or Roast Turkey Dinner
• Hosted bar (wine, beer, spirits)
• Entertainment (live entertainers)
• Venue (at Lido Isle Yacht Club)

The reception starts at 6pm. Dinner starts at 7pm. Awards begin at about 8pm. If you have never attended, don’t think is is another long-winded boring awards dinner. This is the Harbor 20 group doing what they do best: drinking, eating, socializing and boasting about their tactical sailing skills.  Some even get into dancing on the dance floor after the Awards.

Who will get awarded the coveted Rain or Shine this year?  Who gets the un-coveted Broken Rudder Award?

If you planning on attending, get your tickets online today.

NHYC’s Winter Series regatta, which begins this Sunday, November 13, will include starts for Harbor 20 C Fleet racers. Details regarding the number of races for the C fleet on each day of the Series are forth coming. You can register for the regatta here.

If you have already registered but would like to change your registration from the B fleet to the C fleet, you can do so by following the instructions provided in your registration confirmation email. If you did not keep your confirmation email, contact Charlie at raceadmin@nhyc.org, or at (949) 723-6870.

The fastest growing fleet at the Annapolis Yacht Club is the Harbor 20. We currently have 12 Harbor 20’s registered in this years AYC Frostbite Series. The Series starts on Nov 6 and runs on sundays through March. The Harbor 20 has been a successful addition to a number of other Yacht Clubs fleets across the nation. AYC is Fleet 5 in the National Harbor Class Association.

This Saturday is the BYC Sunkist #1 Regatta and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) Regatta. The Sunkist #1 is a Fleet 1 High Point Race.

The regattas are sailed simultaneously, giving you the opportunity to win twice in one day…while supporting CHOC’s fundraiser.

Sunkist Signup

CHOC Signup

More info can be found on the BYC Website for the Sunkist Series and the CHOC Regatta.

Also, the BYC will be offering a “C Fleet” sign up, so if you have never raced, or feel that the B Fleet is too competitive, sign up to sail the “C Fleet”.

The brand new SSYC Ocean Series starts this Saturday! If you have not registered yet, so so now here.

This 4 series race is designed for those that want to experience Ocean racing in the Harbor 20. However, if conditions are such that an ocean race is not ideal for a Harbor 20, the race will be held inside the harbor.

This is a four series race, with trophies being awarded at the conclusion of the regata late in 2012. The sign up fee is only $10.

Go to the page about the race to get more details, and if you want to race this weekend, sign up now. NOR’s and Online Signup are available now.

There are many, many great photos of Harbor 20s in action available to us courtesy of Donna Griggs. Thank you Donna for giving us this special gift!!

View them in the box below, or link directly to her galleries:

2011 Championships: Saturday or Sunday
All Harbor 20 Championships
Full H20 Collection

The window to purchase a new main or jib is now open and ends on November 30th. According to the Fleet 1 rules, to remain eligible, you may only purchase sails during this window between the Championships and November 30th. Jibs may be purchased every year, while main sails can be purchased every other year.

Main sails may only be purchased from Elliott / Pattison Sailmakers. They are offering Harbor 20 boat owners a 25% discount, for a total of $1,167 plus tax. They require a 50% deposit upon order, and the sails will be finished by the end of December for the Fleet Measurer to measure them early January.  Contact: (949) 645-6697
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On Saturday October 15th, WORSA and ALYC held “Sailing for the Visually Impaired” where our Military Veterans and guest from the Braille Institute come down to the American Legion Yacht Club and got the chance to go sailing with volunteers on their sailboats.

This year the Harbor 20 Fleet 1 was well represented. There was Ed Kimball (Dragon Lady) and Michael Volk (Lighting) taking folks out in their boats, as well as Andy and Lori Everson crewing on a larger vessel allowing even more guest to enjoy a great day on the Bay.  As always, Peter Haynes was helping coordinate between LIYC and ALYC making it possible to open up slips at ALYC to facilitate loading our guest on their vessels.

They all did a great job and allowed 200 guest enjoy a sunny day out on the water.  Thank you to Ed, Michael, Lori, Andy and Peter and Harbor 20 Fleet 1.

With the continuing growth of the Harbor 20 A and B Fleets in Newport Harbor, the time has come to introduce a C Fleet.     

I am very happy to announce that Fleet 1 now has a C Fleet! Tom Schock tells me this may very well be the first time a one-design keelboat fleet has had the depth and diversity to divide into three fleets.  

Another achievement for the Harbor 20 Class! 

The Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club is the first yacht club to agree to offer C Fleet starts for their races. The C sailors will be invited to the Midwinter Regatta in February, the multi-month Lorin Weiss Memorial Series this winter, and the summertime Taco Tuesday Twilight Series. Many thanks to Sailing Director Paul DeCapua, and everyone at BCYC, for stepping up to the plate and being the first to support us in this new, and exciting endeavor!

We have over 100 members in Newport Harbor’s Fleet 1. 30 to 40 of these members race their boats on a regular basis. 

 It is obvious there are a lot of Harbor 20 sailors in our harbor who don’t use their boats for racing. This is perfectly okay, of course – there is nothing better than kicking back and daysailing a Harbor 20 – but I bet there are lots of people who are itching to race. I have even had calls from folks who indicated that they had been “shadowing” our evening fun races, but didn’t know how to get involved. And even if they did, the B Fleet has grown to a size where starts can be pretty intimidating.      

What was needed was a way for folks to be able to try their hand at racing their Harbor 20s in a more relaxed, less overwhelming fashion. So, a “trial balloon” was floated at this year’s Summer Party at Lido Isle Yacht Club. We added C Fleet racing and a basic racing clinic to the agenda, and anyone interested in the “Harbor 20 Scene” was invited to participate.  

To our delight, twelve new boats showed up for the C Fleet race!  

The new C sailors sailing their first race

After an introductory chalk-talk, experienced sailors were paired up to sail with the new folks; and the twelve new boats were divided into C1s and C2s, with six boats each. After watching from the safety and comfort of the dock as the A and B Fleets started their first race, the new C sailors, with designated “mentors” onboard, headed out for their start. With the more experienced A and B sailors out of the area, our new C sailors enjoyed two races; and a fun, and safe time was had by all! For more photos of this terrific event click Harbor 20 Class Summer Party 

Class President Peter Haynes explains the basic racing rules

Ever since this exciting Summer Party, people keep asking, “So, what’s going on with the C Fleet?”

Given the success of the event, the next step was to approach the yacht clubs to see if there would be interest in starting a C Fleet following the starts of the As and Bs, at their events. The logistical challenges are obvious, as race committees typically finish all of the fleets before starting the next round of races.

Adding a third fleet would burn up additional time and might reduce the number of races the committee could run for the A and B sailors.

To make the racing perfect for everyone, the idea was proposed that during the time the A and B fleets run multiple races, the C Fleet would be sent on one longer course. This would allow the beginning racers to experience a start, and get accustomed to handling their boats in the company of others but away from the maddening crowd. Meanwhile, the A and B sailors could have as many starts and finishes as time and conditions would allow. The C Fleet races would be open to all Harbor 20 sailors, whether they are new to racing altogether, or perhaps have been struggling in the B Fleet.   

The formation of this brand new C Fleet offers Harbor 20 owners the perfect opportunity to ease into racing. I will be really excited to see them on the racecourse!

The C Fleet will now be a venue for those Harbor 20 owners who always wanted to race but were uncomfortable being thrown into the fiercely competitive A and B Fleets. The C sailors will have plenty of opportunity to compete at the various races held by the BCYC. Be sure to check out the C Fleet sailors race at the Midwinter Regatta, the Lorin Weiss Memorial Series, and at the Taco Tuesday Twilight Series.  

Ed Kimball (center) with new C sailors Mike Murphy and his wife Marilyn Flint (pink shirt) and their friends Cleve and Gloria Crudgington